Importance of Communication and Sustaining Self in Success!

Deepak Machado 0:00

Hello my friends, this is Deepak here from Success 10X Podcast. Hope all of you are doing well. In this episode, I had a conversation with Nima Abu Wardeh. Now if you don't know Nima, Nima was a BBC World Award winning journalist. She has been moderator at World Economic Forum in Davos, and so many other achievements to her life and career. These days, Nima spends her time training others, and she's a beautiful speaker, nice human being. And she shared something very unique with me today. She has her own way of putting things into perspective. I loved the way she articulated what growth mindset means. And if you would like to learn about her formula of communication with clarity, and formula of behave, you must listen to this podcast. She also shared how to get into mood, or have or start your day with great mood in the mornings; so let's just get into that episode and listen to this beautiful episode with Nima Abu Wardeh.

Hello and welcome to Success 10X Podcast. My name is Deepak Machado. I'm a writer and a risk management professional. I'm also a bitcoin enthusiast. In each episode of this podcast, we bring you an inspiring person, or a topic to help you amplify your success 10x. This podcast is dedicated to you if you're serious about your personal growth, because I believe every growth starts from your personal growth. From my personal example, when I started improving my personal life by incorporating good habits, the other departments of my life started changing, so you must start with personal growth. I hope this podcast will create a spark and ignite your desires to achieve higher success. Thank you for spending time with me today and lead the journey to success then x begin. In today's episode of success the next podcast we will be talking about communication and sustaining self for success. And to discuss this I have Nima Abu Wardeh. Nima has been an award winning broadcast journalist. She's a keynote speaker, Advisory Board Member GSC University of Surrey; award winning ex BBC World and that was moderator. By qualification she is Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering. She has a decade plus of work in behavioral economics. She is also a founder of SHE strategy, which we'll be discussing more about later. Nima, welcome to you.

Nima Abu Wardeh 3:16

Thank you Deepak. It is thrilling to be here.

Deepak Machado 3:21

Nima, you've had a checkered career in journalism. And you seem to be on a mission these days to drive people or help people in their life. What's your mission? And why does it matter?

Nima Abu Wardeh 3:35

What a brilliant question Deepak let's go into the deep end straightaway shall. So this is the thing I want everybody to know. It doesn't matter how clever you are, or how many degrees you have. If you cannot sustain your success, what do I mean by that? So it's, first of all, your version of success. That means your definition of success will change as your phases of life change, right? But it's also looking at success as a holistic thing. So it's about you being able to sustain your self. And that means your personal life, as well as your professional life. So in a nutshell, again, it does not matter how clever you are, it doesn't matter how brilliant you are at doing something if you cannot keep doing it. So for example, if you're in a work situation, where you need something you need, the way you work to change so that you can keep showing up and you know functioning fully. Or you need to go on a skills program. You need somebody to say yes to you for that, or in your private life. You need somebody to help you out three days a week And oh, by taking something off your plate, if you cannot get across what you need, want and do that In a way that resonates with whoever it is that you are speaking with, sort of think of that person as a stakeholder, right your partner in life, or your boss at work, or your team member doesn't matter who it is, if you don't know how to do that in a way that gets by him, that brings about the change that you need, then you are going to hit a wall at some point. And it means that you end up losing financially, because maybe you play small or you leave that career or what something negative happens in your life, or you actually hit a wall and you are unable to continue because you're so stressed. because something is going on that's keeping you from getting to where your ambition and ability lie. There you go.

Deepak Machado 5:46

Thank you Nima, that was clear answer that you gave. If you don't already know, I used to look forward to your program on BBC called Middle East Business Report. And I admired people I know who can speak with confidence, and I try to learn from them. So could you give us where it all began for you? Or tell us your story Nima?

Nima Abu Wardeh 6:09

Right, which better many bits? I have multiple lives. You know, that's how I want you to think of me. But you know, Deepak, this is actually a very good point. Because Did you know that I have never applied for a job in my life? Right? And when I share this, I only realized this recently, meaning I realized, oh, everything I do is in a specific. Basically everything that I do, brings about other things that I want to do. Right? Going back to the beginning. I am a scientist and an engineer. So I have a master's in medical engineering. Right? So what is a person who has a master's in medical engineering doing on BBC World talking about business and finance? Well, I'm here to tell you Deepak that if you have a good brain, and if you have a growth mindset. And very importantly, if you raise your profile in a certain way, opportunity does come to you. It might sound cliche, it is not cliche. So the my pathway is very specifically that I graduated, I contemplated doing a PhD, I'm very happy I did not, I have always had more than one job in brackets, though, I save job in brackets, because they are opportunities that I created for myself. So at the very beginning, I used to work for the National Health Service, right? Health medical engineering. At the same time, I created a radio program about health, medical stuff, the human condition, okay. And I leveraged all the research that I did for that MediCal program, and wrote articles. So do you see what I mean? I was putting out what I was interested in what I am good at, because it is genuine. You know, it's really what I am interested in, and I am good at, and I just do it. And so the radio program, I approached the station, I created that opportunity. The articles again, I approached, I just suggested it to people and they said yes. And the job with the healthcare with the hospital, basically, when I graduated, and I was in flux thinking, do I want to do a PhD? What do I want to do? I actually approached them and said, Can I volunteer with you? Because I want to get a feel for what it's like working in your organization? And they said, Yes. And so what that meant is that the hospital then said, Please, can you work for us? Because I was there and I was doing stuff and they liked it. And the other the TV side happened because a TV station came to me and said we need somebody with a medical background who can do report? And I said yes, by the way, saying yes, is important. And then that's true, right? And then every other job has been by invitation, including BBC World. So I had moved to Dubai. My boss of mine had started up a global TV channel in Dubai. And he had asked me to join him. So I did. And the BBC were looking to start a program and I was already a guest on programs of theirs as a Middle East expert. And so they asked me to do the product. Do you see so the point Deepak is this, going back to basics, it doesn't matter how brilliant you are, if other people don't know? Yes, right. And this is actually why and I will talk about this later, but this is really why I've created things like the raise your profile incubator because you know, you mentioned What's up people on TV and how eloquent they are speakers. There's a little video of mine on YouTube, I've already just started posting many videos and stuff like that on YouTube literally a few weeks ago. And in it, I say, I calculated how much time I have lost from my life because I had to give people training on the spot to be able to speak effectively to communicate effectively before I interviewed them for the BBC program. So these are top, you know, heads of companies, heads of corporations and governments, who I would have to sit with, and do a little mini media training session with so that they could speak and communicate in a way that is effective. And that will resonate with whoever it is that they're speaking with, via the BBC. I calculated it. I said, Okay, imagine I did three interviews a week and spent three hours on this and so on, it turns out that I've lost nearly three years of my life Deepak purely on the preamble, setting up the interviews in when I show up because people don't know how to do this very important thing, which is communicate effectively. So when you see the finished product on TV, for example, that's after a lot of stuff has happened, including sitting with the person and saying, Can you say that again? You know, and, and, and, you know, and I like getting them to knit together, information that is not just linear, but brings into play, why anybody should care about what they're saying? what the big deal is, what people can do about what they're hearing, or, you know, anything that brings it to life, basically. And that brings ideally into play things like global trends, or other things, do you see what I mean? So it's, I call it the spyders way of thinking it's about, you're not just thinking about the one thing that you want to get across, you want to tie that in with why people should care. You know, if people just had that sentence in everything that they said, which is, this is important, because it'll really change the way we communicate. But for the answer for the rest of the sentence to be, it has to be something that is relevant to whoever is listening to you, whoever you are speaking with. So it's not about why it's important to you. First, you have to explain why it's important for them. And then you can bring in why it's important to you. And by the way, this way of communicating and thinking, which is exactly that system that I have created with my programs is what I teach people at the top of the C suite. But more importantly, it means that you, you will literally elevate the way you think not just the way you communicate because you start taking other people and huge issues into consideration when you are formulating what it is that you want to get across whether it's writing a document or report, making a pitch selling a product, requesting something from HR doesn't matter, same thing.

Deepak Machado 13:10

Yeah. Thanks, Nima for those points. You also mentioned about growth mindset. I was I mean, I'm very much interested to learn your definition, or what do you mean by growth mindset? I have some difficulty explaining to certain people as some of my friends when I when we discussed, what exactly do you mean, by having a growth mindset? Is it just being aware of where you want to go? Or, or learning new stuff? Or being curious? What do you have to say for that?

Nima Abu Wardeh 13:40

That's a good question, actually. And to your first point, I don't think it's about being aware of where you want to go in the sense of that doesn't come first. So what I find happens is that yes, you can think I want to be in that arena, you know, I want to be the person who does this, I want to be this person that people come to for this skill that I have. Yes. So absolutely. As part of your growth mindset. Okay, let me go back to the beginning. Answer this again. I believe that you get to where you want to go to by doing other stuff first. So if you just say I want to be the head of this team, and then there's a full stop. That's not going to happen Really? Or if it does happen. Are you going to be the best person for it? Because in order to be the best person, really you need to be aware of what your future you need to know. So you need to learn the things as though you are that person does that make sense? So you are now Person A but actually you want to be person a plus. Right? So You don't say, oh, when I have the job of Person A plus, I will start learning the things that go with that. No, you say to yourself, okay, I'm Person A, I am going to start learning staff. That person who is an eight plus knows and does, right. So that's what I mean by what I mean by growth mindset is the idea of it's not just about what you're doing now. It's about exploring, discovering, doing. Yeah, the stuff that is the next thing for you. Now, there are people I have met them, who will say things like, but that's not my job. That's not a growth mindset, right? Or they say, but somebody else is in charge of that. Do you see? So it's limiting themselves and boxing themselves up? Or they could say, I'm never going to use that. So why should I bother? You know, it's that kind of thing. That is not a growth mindset that says, really a simple definition of, for me what a growth mindset is, and I'll give you examples, right? So if you look at my LinkedIn profile, it says knowledge nerd. So what does that mean? Right? It means that actually, I am like a sponge, I drink up knowledge. And my one of my issues is that I assume that other people know this stuff, too. But actually, they don't, because they don't go around digging and finding out and spending time and really being interested in stuff. So it could be medical stuff, stuff to do the human condition, stuff to do with communication, lots of research around our behavior with money, for example. So these are all things that I do, they are genuinely of interest to me and I have actually created systems work stuff with that.

Nima Abu Wardeh 16:53

I would always encourage people to find stuff out, even if it's for pure pleasure, and they don't have a specific pathway to how to use it. Right. So I think that's, that's a big definition, the differentiation between for me my growth mindset versus no growth growth mindset says, I want to know more, I want to dig a bit I want to experience and experiment with this, which is exactly what you did Deepak with your life, right? You in fact leaned into things that were uncomfortable for you by doing the speaking side of things, right? That is a huge growth mindset that has another element, which is very brave. Right? So that's the ultimate thing that you want to be doing. And you know, what, the thing that sort of my programs, what I always say to people is learn through doing, you know, one of the things that holds us back is that some of us want to be perfectionists, okay? That is the enemy of a lot of things. It's the enemy of getting things out there is the enemy of you starting to do things like raising your profile, is the enemy of you actually discovering what the next thing is for you. Because you might have a pathway in your head, I want to go from A to B. Life is never ever a linear path. Something will happen along the way that might be good, or might not be good, right? So it's the only way you find out in fact, the only way you accelerate your growth. And the next thing for you is by learning through doing so you learn something, use it. Don't wait. Don't ask for permission, can I start to just start doing it? Yeah. I hope that helps.

Deepak Machado 18:46

Yeah, yeah, it greatly helps me to clarify my doubts as well as my whoever asks me in the future, this is a good way to convey this message. Even my mentor he he has a formula called BE, DO and HAVE. So if you want to be somebody do what they're doing and then ultimately be know have that. So this is kind of know what you summarize what you said I can summarize.

Nima Abu Wardeh 19:11

Well, in fact, I have a little summary, which is this is BE.HAVE equals BEHAVE. So in other words, you want to be something. So you want to be that in that position, have a skill to do a certain job, you want to be that thing. Well, what do you need, then you need to have certain things like skills, knowledge, tools, so you need to start acquiring them and experiencing them. And what is the result? The result is that you behave in a way that is that next thing for you before you even offered it. Does that make sense? Yep. So so you have to skills, you are being that thing you are behaving it, guess what happens? Somebody taps you on the shoulder and says, Hey, Deepak, I see you're really good at this or, you know, you'd be a great addition to our team. Would you like to join us? Hey, Deepak, there's a speaking event. Do you want to talk about what you're doing? Do you see b dot have equals behave, you have to behave what you know, not keep it in your head, and put yourself out there they go.

Deepak Machado 20:39

So great point NIma, I absolutely agree with you be not have equal to behave you how to behave like a person you want to be out to get what you want. So I firmly believe in that. Another aspects,

Nima Abu Wardeh 20:51

I want to say one thing, so he did make is really important. It is has to come from a solid base. So I've had people come up to me, for example, and say, Oh, I would love to be a spokesperson. And or I would love to get on stage and speak. Now they have the personality that people assume they're going to be great at it, because maybe they're outgoing, right? Yeah. Or they look a certain way, whatever. However, if they don't have the drill down to credibility, skills, knowledge that they have to share? Yeah, that's gonna be a flash in the pan. Nothing. It'll be a one time you get on stage you tank because nobody's benefited from you. You haven't, you don't have that track record in your credibility to share. Yeah, yes. So my point is that, yes, you can behave it, but it has to include the have. So in order to be that next thing you need to have the skills, the track record, that stuff that people can look back and see. He did this. She wrote that they took part in this. Yeah. And then your the rest falls into place? Yes.

Deepak Machado 22:03

Yes, I agree with you. Absolutely. And you also speak so much about communication, and why it is a core skill for anybody to or learn continuously about how to communicate better. As an introvert myself, you know, and whoever believes that they are introverts, what message do you have for us to come out of our shells and put ourselves out there, a lot of dreams, dreams die, because people are either shy to come out, you know, come out of the shells and put themselves out on LinkedIn or any other platform or even with their boss to talk up in an open mind in an open way. Even I was very shy. If I see myself 10 years back, I was very shy person that I, in my own shell,comfort, sitting there not taking risks. So what do you have? What message do you have for somebody in this kind of position?

Nima Abu Wardeh 22:58

So the way I approach this is slightly different to many other people that I see out there. For example, I do not use the word confidence. I use the word comfortable, which is also a word you just use. This is really important. Because if we don't build on a base that is solid, and it includes comfort, then the next steps don't happen. Unless somebody is really willing to risk stuff, you know, and be extremely brave. But that also runs the risk of it not being sustainable, because you do it once you're terrified. You feel that you never want to do that again. Right. So going back again to your point. My C is C for comfort, not confidence. In the raise your profile incubator, for example, which is running in March, which people are more than welcome to look up and ask me any questions around if they have any questions. One of the things I do then it says it on the website is I do what I call a media match with you. So everybody has something to offer. How can they offer it in a way that's comfortable? Some people will prefer for example to write, speak, but speak without video, speak on video, be on stage be anonymous. You know, it does. Every one of us has the ability to communicate Otherwise, how did you get through life so far? Let's be really basic. The fear comes from not having a system that is simple, stress free, replicable. And that works very simply. And that's exactly what I've created. So I've created a system that is brain based. So it's not just me thinking oh, this is A good idea, because I have a master's in medical engineering. And I have a master's in medical engineering because I am interested in how the brain works and how we make decisions and what gets us noticed, right. But I'm also a very practical person. And I am always astounded that people can talk a lot, give workshops, but they don't actually share how the person can do what they're talking about. So the core at the core of everything I do is the, how do I do it. So there will always be a system that you take away with you that you implement straightaway, that tells you takes you through the steps of doing it, right. So comfort is at the core of this. Because if it is a very, hugely stressful situation, you're not going to want to do it very often or at all right? So the other thing is this, you know, imagine it's about, you know, it's about building on success. So if you start at a certain point, you get a system, imagine this, imagine you have a report to write a pitch to make a presentation, anything like that, or even a meeting with somebody, you're going to ask them for something. Imagine having a structure in your life that you refer back to that literally distills out the words you can use. How to figure out what will resonate with that person, that stakeholder? how to put it together? And how to test it before your big day. Yeah, then that takes away a lot of stress. In fact, people caught in most of their energy into figuring out exactly what I said, What words do I use? How do I choose them? How do I structure what I want to say, All right. That's where most of our energy goes. You want to know something be Deepak The reality is, that's not what people remember, most. I hate to tell you, right, so the most stressful thing and when people pull most of their energy is not what gets them remembered. So imagine that is taken away from you, because there's a system that helps you do that. That's what I do. That's the work I drill down to. But alongside Did you get a way of being when you're doing this right to tap into?

Nima Abu Wardeh 27:50

How am I going to lower my stress levels? How am I going to get my voice ready in a way that gets across? The thing that I really want to say, right? It's these things that are usually missing from that picture of communicating when it comes to very specific, you know, simple stuff, how to communicate effectively, say this, do that use these sentences, blah, blah, you know, okay, that's one thing. Yes, that's where a lot of your energy and stress goes, yes, very important. But the rest of it is actually more important. So a lot of research has been done around people in an audience, for example, being surveyed, and rating, what resonated. And the things that resonate most are these elusive things like presence, right? You can't box that up. You have to, again, experiment and experience and become somebody who has presence. That's what's going to get your chosen. That's what's going to get you remembered. What you actually say the actual words and what came first. And that's really important. But that's not the thing that will get you that will get people tuning into you. If the other stuff isn't there. So your presence, literally your voice, how you use it, how you make it work with you, and for you, instead of it becoming a barrier, right? And physically how you are Whoo, you know, use your whole body how you're going to be now. I don't mean that if somebody who's an introvert, I want to throw them on stage. Here, go Deepak go and do that. No, again, go back to the point of comfort. It's about meeting you where you are at right now. saying to you look Deepak this is something that could happen if it's if it's of interest, and then you work towards it. It Right. But let's start with where you're at right now and get you to really rock at what you are comfortable with. Right now. Does that make sense?

Deepak Machado 30:13

Yep, it does. It does. So helps me a lot. By your thought your thought process you are, I would say you are unconventional, you don't give the old kind of, you know, recommendations when it comes to implementing certain things.

Nima Abu Wardeh 30:30

Can I tell you why Deepak actually, you know, I have been in, so I speak on stage, but I also train people to do this to me. And so I train people to speak with the media to become spokespeople to speak on stage and all the rest of it fine. I have had people come up to me, and just want to cry really, because because one person in particular comes to mind, you know, this person was told to stand in a certain way to do things in a certain way. And it stripped this person of who they are. You know, that is not what I do. In fact, I find that to be rubbish. Because, excuse me, yeah,

Nima Abu Wardeh 31:16

I find that to be rubbish, because it takes away who you are, and how you do things. And that's the point about you, it's about you, are you there's nobody else who's you, right? You are brilliant at something, what is it, you want to be the go to person for that thing, you want people to come to you for the thing that you want to do more of right? So if you start stripping away who and what you are, you just become kind of like, you know, in the middle, right? So it is not about conforming to a cookie cutter way of doing things? Absolutely not. In fact, this is why I have certain clients that I've had for I think over decades now. They stick with me, because they know that I get the best out of an individual. I'm not there to impose that a system away, or you have to do it like this. There are things that people do need to do. Yes. So there is a structure a foundation, think of it as a skeleton, right? Your skeleton helps you function, right, your body would be a blob without a skeleton. So that's the skeleton is there. I have a system and it's very methodical, and brain based, and it is different to anybody else's, it doesn't exist. That's why I created it. Okay. But alongside that I work with people who are individuals, right? So it's about tapping into what they are comfortable with right now, or could be comfortable with pretty, you know, with less effort, yeah. And then decide where they want to go. And that can change. You don't have to be somebody who speaks on stage if you don't want to, but it doesn't mean you don't need to, you know, become the go to person for what you're brilliant at. You just do it differently. That's all. And by the way, this is how sustainability happens. So when you create systems for yourself that are feeding you instead of territory for you, you know and terrorizing you, you will have a brilliant loop, a loop that gives you that Oh, I feel good doing that. I want to do it again. Right. Oh, that was good. I want to experience that again. Oh, I'll try this this time. So you become a bit more experimental and brave as you go through things because you are building on success, as opposed to being terrorized and hating what you're doing and then avoiding it.

Deepak Machado 33:52

Yeah, you also speak about sustaining self as well as sustaining success. Can you elaborate more why it is important in this age and time?

Nima Abu Wardeh 34:05

So this isn't so much about what to eat, and yoga, for example, although that is really important, okay. But I want people to take a little journey with me to think about this, you know, imagine you again, you are brilliant at something and you want to be known for this thing. Yeah. And you want to go for an opportunity. But your home life isn't okay. Or there's a health problem somewhere, or you're going to snap and break because you're being pulled in different directions. Right. So when it comes to parents, for example, especially the female parent, the mother, there's often this pull of Kara versus Korea, right? In the case of anybody, it could be, you know, male or female doesn't matter. It could be your parents that need your help. So in other words, whenever there is an opposing pull, you want to do something, something is putting you in a different direction. And it's often this professional versus personal, Paul. Yeah. That anything that is an opposing pull doesn't, it's not going to end well, something bad is going to happen. Often what happens is, people break, they can become depressed, they can pass up on opportunities, because they can't cope, they're overwhelmed. They can end up having an unhappy personal life, because they are just, they don't know how to get by it, you see. So going back to the idea of getting buy in and communicating effectively, it's all tied in You see, this is my premise. One, if you are able to get across what you need, want, and do. This can happen in your private life as well as your professional life. So it could be for example, please can you look after dinner three days a week? Because I can't deal with that. Right now. I'm going through a phase where I have to really concentrate on something at work, for example, I mean, I'm really simplifying here. Yeah. Or it could be with your work, Listen, my parents are ill unwell, I need to be able to be available for them. Can I work from home, three days a week, two mornings a week, what you know, whatever that thing is, if you have the skills and the toolbox to get across what you need, what you want, and the want could be I want to learn this, please send me on a training course. Yeah. And do. So that's all the stuff that we spoke about, about raising your profile, sharing what you're brilliant at and getting people to come to you what you need want to do. If you can't do this in a way that gets by him, then you will hit a wall at some point, the wall could be your health, it could be your personal life and your marriage. And it could be just that you don't get to where your ambition and ability line because you are restricted in some way, you're not chosen for the next thing, or you're chosen. And this is even worse, really, when you can't keep doing it. Because it's too much. Because you don't have the support that you need at work or at home. Right. So that's my idea of sustaining self. My idea of sustaining self is literally going back to the basics of how can I show up every day and function and do this thing that I have in my life so that my private life and my professional life can continue to function and be sustainable, right? You're not you're not hitting walls. That's what I mean by sustaining self. Now, there is a bigger overarching message though here, which is this. When when we are pulled in different directions, for whatever reason, we make decisions that seem to be the best thing at the time. An example could be I know, I will be brilliant at that job, but I'm not going to apply for it. Because it will be a lot more effort, work, hours travel. And right now, I can't do that. Because I have this other stuff going on in my life. Yeah. Now, if you knew how to communicate effectively, maybe you could sort out that other stuff going on. So you will be able to get the support and the buy in that you need so that you can go for that job, right?

Nima Abu Wardeh 38:57

What's the point of this? The point is that if you turn things down, if you don't lean into what I call your earning potential, you will pay a huge financial price that will amplify over the course of your lifetime. And at the end of your lifetime, the chances of you being broke or being in financial need increase. So really, that's the ultimate sustaining self. For me. It is the idea of financial dignity, financial choice. When we make decisions, that mean we can't go for things that we are great at and keep doing it. We always pay a financial price, right? Sometimes you're willing to do it because you have young children for example and you want to part time. That's okay. That's your choice. But do it knowing what the consequences That is I'll give you an example, did you know that women are three times more likely to die broke than men? That's a huge figure three times. And this is before COVID. So with COVID, a lot more females have left the workplace or been pushed out of the workplace, because of the repercussions of COVID. So, you know, this is another another discussion around equality, which I have my own definition of, but I want to bring it back to the issue of what you alluded to earlier, which is, you know, what do you want to do with your life, what is success to you define it, it'll change as you go through the course of life, right? But then you must have the toolbox to be able to make it happen for you, but not just as a one off, it has to keep happening. So in other words, in this phase of life success is this, I still need to be able to show up and keep doing it. next five years, that is success for me, I need to have the skills and the tools to get buy into that I can keep doing that. And you go on.

Deepak Machado 41:09

Yeah, the story told to us , especially where I come from, I'm not sure about where you come from, but where I come from? The ultimate success is wealth, or money. Do you believe in that? Or is there anything more to success than wealth or money?

Nima Abu Wardeh 41:30

So I would say I think two things. One is? No, it's a pretty short answer. However, I do believe that financial dignity is important. So again, how do I define it? In its most simple form, it's the it's the knowledge that you can put a roof over your head and the head of your loved ones. And you can provide the basic things of food, education, you know, that sort of stuff. So that's, that's, that's a certain level of financial dignity, okay, plus the option to walk out of a bad situation. So imagine that you had a rubbish job, something bad's going on, you forgot that the people you're working with aren't really ethical, whatever that thing is, if you have a level of financial dignity available to you, you can walk out of that situation. Yeah. So really, to your point, it's not about the number of zeros, especially if the number of zeros is going to kill you in the process of getting them, right. It's actually about quality of life, and how you show up every day in your life. That's, that's my version of wealth, you know, what's the point of working towards something, but never getting to enjoy your daily life, your day, your life happens every day, we're lucky enough to be alive. What are you doing to lean into that? A bit of joy each day, you know, but the other thing is this, if you do the things that we're talking about, like raise your profile in a certain way. You fix these things in a way, because you end up doing things that you enjoy. And opportunity coming to you while you're doing it. This is for me, the magical formula that is often missed, and it is you are brilliant at something, what is it? Is it something you want to do more of? Or is it something that you want to stop doing and you want to do something else? So this is about defining what you are the go to person for right? This is at the core of the work that I do? What are you the go to person for? Is it something you want to be doing more of one? So let's figure out what it is you want to be doing more of? How are you going to broadcast this information? And three, how are you going to do it in a way that is effective resonates, is remembered for the right reasons. But at the core of it in a way that is comfortable for you, and that you can keep doing it. So I'll give an example with the radio profile incubator. I assure people that you know, what people who join me ended up with is a central core content piece, which is them starting to raise the profile of what they want to do more of right. And figuring out their personal plan. So that how they can do that how they can start creating what I call the infinite content machine, right? of content, information broadcasting. This is easy for them. It's not a huge uphill struggle every single time. So does that make sense? What I'm saying is

Nima Abu Wardeh 44:55

in order to have your definition of success, and that includes wealth, because We all need money to survive, whether we like it or not. Imagine being able to do this in a way that is comfortable. In a way that means people come to you with opportunity. And in a way where you could even have some fun doing it. And that is at the core of the work that I do. And with the raise your profile incubator, what people walk away with, is the system, the step by step, how do I communicate? How do I choose the word? How do I get myself ready? All that stuff? How do I structure it? Yes, the skeleton stuff. They also get the, what about me, what about me, I'm comfortable doing this, I'm not comfortable doing that, I can get comfortable doing this, maybe let's let's try it out. So it's about doing the matching up of what you are comfortable with, with how you can start broadcasting your brilliance, right? And showcasing it. And then actually creating a plan so that you see you, you start doing the work. You see, if I do this, maybe once a week, once a fortnight, once a month doesn't matter, we can you know, the plan is unique to each person, then all these other things can happen as a result of that. So this one piece of content that's created in a way that is specific to you, your personality, your needs and wants, can mean that other broadcasting opportunities happen. As a result, you're leveraging the one piece to create the many other pieces. And when you get comfortable doing that, and implementing and becoming this thing, guess what? It just keeps going. Because you keep feeding it not because it's a struggle, but because it's just you doing what you're great at. Yeah. Yeah. Which is really what you're doing Deepak with this?

Deepak Machado 47:02

Thank you, and very, very deep thoughts you have, I think, how to listen to this conversation again, or maybe two to three times to drill into my brain myself. Nima, so I want to shift the gears here and slightly go into maybe kind of personal questions here. So I believe in learning continuously, I believe in equipping myself with the new kind of knowledge. So what are you learning these days? And why are you doing it?

Nima Abu Wardeh 47:37

Okay, that's a good question. I have had to learn so many things the hard way, meaning on my own really quickly, since locked down. Right. So this is a specific time of, of our history on this planet, right. And I'm in the UK at the moment. So there, there have been huge restrictions on you know, I can't go to somebody Excuse me, could you help me? It's not gonna happen. Yeah, I'm in lockdown. But also, because there was a very immediate shift online, in terms of I wasn't going to be flying out and doing things that I would do in person. Couple that with I was already creating online programs. Yeah. I decided, Okay, so what is it that again, I implement my own system on myself? Right? What is it that I'm really comfortable doing? And actually, I'm good at. So I enjoy broadcasting stuff. I have actually leapfrogged the broadcasters, and I create my own thing, which is, I go live on LinkedIn. I'm starting to go live on youtube, and so on. And they are about topics and things that I am personally I'm interested in, that I believe will help many people, right. So to do that, I had to then make a lot of decisions around platforms, technical information, making things work together. So it could be as simple as, what mixer Am I going to buy? How am I going to get this brilliant microphone, which by the way, is brilliant, but it is very low in terms of volume, there is no gain. Yeah, very little gain, if I want to use it with my mixer, so I've had to buy other bits of equipment, and plug things together and experiment and get things I've had to invent my own Broadcasting System. Right. And to do that, I've had to learn from scratch a lot about the equipment that I'm using, but also which platforms and software I had, I'm going to you know capitalize on a news and and this is at the core of it. What system Am I going to create that is an infinite giving system so that I don't have to reinvent everything each time, you just have your building blocks that you have had to create from scratch. But they're all done, and you just plug and play. So that has been my latest learning journey. It is the, okay. This is the ultimate, do it yourself moment, right? And I say this to people all the time, do it yourself. Don't wait. Don't wait for somebody else to come and do it for you. Or to help you do it. Your Life happens every day, figure out what you need, and then figure out how to make it happen. So it might sound like a really wishy washy answer. It's like the technical side of life and the platforms and so on. But actually, the amount of hours I have spent, I'm sure this resonates with you on, on, on making decisions around things. So choices are infinite. It's about you coming up with parameters and saying this works. And this is what I want, this is what I need, and then making a decision and going with it. Right? Yes. And then keeping on doing it because you know what? showing up in a consistent way. It doesn't matter whether it's about getting fit, eating healthy. looking after your mental health, or creating what you're doing, which is a podcast. If you don't stay consistent, it's dead.

Deepak Machado 51:27

Yes. You're right, you're right. And I was your similar boat you're sailing now on figuring out systems and you know, microphone and laptop and mixer. I don't have a mixer but have using the USB. But yeah, it's a learning thing. And I usually had fun with that, you know, learning this, it's fun to learn. Now I'm proud of myself that I'm no more newbie. Now I've become kind of an I wouldn't say expert, but I know things now how things work, how to upload an episode, how to fine tune voice, how to fine tune videos, all this stuff. So I learned myself. So I had a lot of fun. And now I get questions on how to do this, how to do that, you know, that is also fun to answer sometimes.

Nima Abu Wardeh 52:14

So you see Deepak..In fact, you know, what you've done is you've become the go to person for this stuff. And it's because you have learned through doing you know, if we recap everything we've spoken about you have learned through doing. you have created a system that is an infinite content machine system, right? Yes. And you have created the skeleton, the nuts and bolts, and you've handed it out with the how how I do it. Yeah. So and that's exactly it. And this is exactly what I drilled down to with all the work that I do. It's so important. So you have that safety net, your hardware, the kit, and then there's the you factor. Brilliant.

Deepak Machado 52:53

Yeah. So Nima. Which book has had the greatest effect on you personally, or in your business?

Nima Abu Wardeh 53:03

Oh, okay. So I am really rubbish at this because there isn't one. It's not about a book for me. For me, it is about continuously absorbing information. So because my interests are diverse, I'm interested in behavior in the human condition in the brain, in money in life in what holds people back what gets people noticed to remember, you know, a lot of this but also the nuts and bolts of science and the environment and travel and fitness. Yeah, I have a very diverse interest base. And really, for me that the thing that is more most important is the way somebody writes, and how they get information across. For example, you can have really heavy duty papers and books that an articles that actually you want to kill yourself because it's so boring, you can't finish it. But actually, you know, it's important, but you just can't You can't bring yourself to read it. And then you've got other people who are really good at simplifying way things in a way that is easy to understand. And share. And remember, I suppose the thing with me though, is that because I often read the papers, I'm you know, I don't need to read a certain book to, to know about something, because I already know about it, because I've read the research. Does that make sense?

Deepak Machado 54:28

Yeah, yeah.

Nima Abu Wardeh 54:30

Yeah. So that's where I am. I am the person who reads the research that somebody else goes and makes into a book.

Deepak Machado 54:36

Well, nice, nice, nice to know that and so 2020s this decade, I called it as the Roaring 20s. Okay, so what I mean by that is, you know, there are disruptions to our lives in a way and there are technologies which are disrupting the entire ecosystem of certain industries. So what excites You these days are what are you most excited about?

Nima Abu Wardeh 55:04

Right? Well, for me personally, I just hope that, look, as humans, we are fascinating. What we do is we say, All this time, I'm going to learn this lesson, right? It's not going to change the way we do things. But then we revert back to the path of least resistance. And we repeat the stuff that gets got us into trouble in the first place. My biggest wish, really, in this era, is that we lean into what technology can offer us. And for me, that is democratizing knowledge, and access to things. And taking away that sort of elitist thing of you can only gain access. If. So that's one of the reasons I love online teaching, virtual work, because it enables the many, to tap into what I'm doing, right. Instead of me having to pollute the environment, get all the play, go, only have the people who can be in the class at that point. It's disabling for so many, because maybe they have to be at home for a certain reason. They can't get to they're in different countries, whatever. So the point for me is, we have spoken for so long about the opportunity that technology allows us, however, and I've spoken to CEOs, and I've interviewed people and you know, they that they there hasn't been the political will to allow this to happen. Right? I'll give you a very simple example. The people listening to us, right now, not all of them have to go into an office, even when COVID is no longer a problem. They can still function very well from wherever they are. But many of them will be required to go in because that's the way things happen. That's the way we do things, you know what I mean? So again, we're leaning on technology. To get us through this phase, I just hope that we keep the options open for people to live and work in a better way. And be able to utilize what technology allows us to do, and not go back to the old systems where people wanted to control others in a certain way, and make them deliver on work in a certain way, just because that's the way that things used to be.

Deepak Machado 57:44

Yeah, so like you said, I, I firmly believe that digital education that what you're doing, that scope, has leapfrogged in the last one year or so, I believe it is going to be a huge industry, and I'm sure you will be a very successful person in that. So Nima what one habit or let's say a couple of habits that you have developed in the last one year of time that has helped you succeed in or make your productivity to x or 3x or 10x. Do you have any particular habits?

Nima Abu Wardeh 58:25

So you know what? I've, okay, in order for our productivity to be good, I believe that we need to look after the whole of us. What do I mean? If you are not sleeping? Well, if you are not eating well, if you're not looking after yourself, then the rest of it falls apart at some point, right? Because even if you kid yourself, even if you kid yourself and you think, Hey, I'm gonna I'm going to be I'm going to push through, right? I'm going to push through, I'm just gonna make this happen. Actually, what you're doing in an hour could be done in way less time if you gave yourself a break. So what I'm saying is this, I am somebody who this is part of being human. I know what's best for me, but do I always do it? Aha, that's the question. So what I've done is I actually have structured my day in a certain way so that I pay myself first Haha, what does that mean? We are familiar with this phrase in the financial sense. pay yourself first save your money for example, right? I pay myself first by doing something physical. So I do a depends on how much time I have. It could be 20 minutes it could be for two minutes of a workout. Before I start the drill down of work, because it means my mind is different. My body is different. My myself, all of me I am different. And going by To the question of wealth, what's the point of me being great at something online, but not being healthy and not being able to go out and enjoy my physical side of life, which for me is very important. I am on a bicycle most days, I walk a lot, I am a physical being, right? It's important. So it is important for me to remind myself to pay myself first, I recommend everybody does this, do something in the morning, that's, excuse me. Again, do something in the morning that sets you up for a good or great day. Give your brain a break. You are more productive, if you give the brain a break. And research. So what I do is I set timers, I always have a timer that tells me when something is going to either happen so that I can free my brain. So I get up in the morning and I go, Okay, I've got these meetings. 10 minutes before each meeting, my alarm goes off so that I get myself ready. What does that mean? It frees me up from having to think about is it time yet? Is it time yet, that's really important for your brain from certain things. But to I set timers for tasks that I'm doing, so it could be 20 minutes, 40 minutes, never more than an hour ever. Because research tells us that our brain needs a break. And in fact, this is one of my little YouTube videos. And it is about giving your brain a break. So you are more productive. And you can think differently. Yeah. Because really, the other big thing is this, when we are being very focused, and delivering and detail oriented, and so on. We don't allow our thinking to evolve and join up dots and come up with brilliant ideas or brilliant ways of doing things.

Deepak Machado 1:01:49

Yeah, Nima you shared earlier about your incubation program or a your incubator for us. What as a person will I be after I attend this program?

Nima Abu Wardeh 1:02:04

Okay, so what happens in the program is that I take you through the building blocks of how to communicate effectively and with influence, right. So literally drilling down to the skeleton of words, how do you choose them? And how do you use them? structure? How do you put something together? That becomes a powerful way of communicating? How can you test what you have put together to make sure that the way you've done it is, in fact, what people remember what they get from? what it is that you have to say, this is a really important thing, and nobody does that. It just doesn't exist. Okay. So it's all stuff that I've created. So that's the building blocks side of things. It's then the How do you do it side of things. So getting your voice ready at getting yourself ready? So that's the you layer? And then how are you going to be when you're doing these things? So that's all the the building blocks of how to communicate effectively. And with influence. That's one thing that we're going to be drilling down to another thing we drill down to is, okay, what are you the go to person for? So it's literally drilling down to? You want to showcase your brilliance? Okay, well, let's define what it is. Yeah, let's drill down and niche down onto what it is that you want to start raising your profile around. Yeah. So it is the what is it? It is the skeleton of how to do it. Both words, the voice and all the rest of it, the presence side of thing. And the third thing is the idea of the infinite content machine. So it's matching up what you are comfortable with. So that we can start you straightaway raising your profile around this issue. It's not something that you're going to work towards for six months. So you go in we met, you know, so you're matched up, what do you like? What are you comfortable with? Let's try this out. Do it. How did it feel? what needs to change? How can you be more effective, be more influential in your comfort zone, we create a central piece of content together. That is you doing this? It is you raising your profile about what you are the go to person for in a way that is comfortable for you, and that resonates? Yeah, so that's your central piece that we will create together. And we will also create the plan around it that says okay, every time you do this, this is how you use it. And this is how you end up creating your infinite content machine. That is not an uphill, painful struggle. That is, in fact, a, an easier, enjoyable process while noting what it is that you want to be doing next. So the idea there is that you start doing the work, right now you start putting yourself out raising profile doing all that stuff, we decide, okay, you also want to head towards this. And this is how it can happen. So you've got your plan of action now. That's what you get from the incubator. So it's rolling your sleeves up and actually doing the work, right? getting feedback iterating doing it again, so that at the end, you end up with your blueprint, how do I do this. And you end up with your central piece of this is me raising my profile. And you have your plan around how you keep doing it, which is so important. And where you're headed towards. Now, it's the incubator, which is three, it's over three days, it's the 23rd 24th and 25th of March. But there are posts that weekly live calls. So once a week for eight weeks, people get together, they can post questions beforehand, or we do it as a live session with everybody there. If you can't be there, you will get a recording of it. And you also get a one on one session with me an in person one on one virtual session, where we take it to the next level, basically, yeah. So it's a very comprehensive, it's not just about hey, go do it by

Nima Abu Wardeh 1:06:46

It's not like that. It's about holding your hand, making it happen with you, creating a system that is sustainable for you, right. And being there for you along the journey for a couple of months to make sure that you are able and happy and comfortable doing it and reacting to things that you're experiencing as you go through it. Plus, you choose when to have the one on one session with me, it could be at the end in the middle, wherever you want. So it's a very comprehensive thing, because I don't like it when people just say, hey, do this, and then they leave people hanging. It's about the How do I do it. And it's about having support while you are experimenting and experiencing and doing it.

Deepak Machado 1:07:34

Thanks, Nima. I'm sure whoever attend this will come out a changed person altogether. And this has been a fascinating talk with you or podcast recording with you. Thank you so much for your time. Do you have any parting words for our listeners?

Nima Abu Wardeh 1:07:54

You know what, this is the ultimate 'Do It Yourself' moment. So many people I talked to are frustrated because their workplace doesn't pay for their continuous education and skill learning. You know what, don't wait for somebody else to do it for you. I really do mean this, you will go further faster if you invest in yourself. And it's their loss, really. So don't wait for somebody else to create your solutions. Create your own solutions, starting now.

Deepak Machado 1:08:30

Thanks Nima. Where can we find you? Where Where are you active? Or where can we reach out to you? Or do you have any webpage for this incubator?

Nima Abu Wardeh 1:08:38

Ah, yes. And in fact, it'd be great if you could put it in the notes at something for people is raiseyourprofile.site. Okay, raise your profile dot site, as it is the URL for the incubator. My own website is finding-nima.com. It's Finding Nima. So it's finding-nima.com. And if you remember one of those, you can get to the other one very easily. So I suppose the easy one is raise your profile dot site just because it's what we've been talking about. And yeah, get in touch. You know, if you're on LinkedIn, look, look out for me on LinkedIn. And I wish everybody all the best. And I know what it's like to be frustrated. I know what it's like to feel that it's not fair. Things are not fair. You know, that's the point. Life isn't fair. Sometimes it stinks. People are not fair. Sometimes they do the wrong thing by you. So do it yourself. Don't wait. If you have something you want to share, raise your profile. Start doing it right now.

Deepak Machado 1:09:59

Thanks Nima. Thank you so much for your time. And I wish you all the best in your endeavors in the future.

Nima Abu Wardeh 1:10:05

Thank you Deepak It has been an absolute pleasure. You take care. Okay, any questions you let me know if you need any information, let me know. Okay.

Deepak Machado 1:10:15

Sure, sure. Thanks. Hello there. Did you have fun listening to this podcast? I sure did have a lot of fun listening to what Nima had to say and what she had to share from our own personal experience as well as professional experience. I'm sure you are excited to put into practice what she has mentioned today or what she has shared today.

Our intention with Success 10X podcast is to help you and inspire you achieve higher success. Join me on this journey to success and Success 10X. Please subscribe to success the next podcast on Apple podcast, Google podcasts or your favorite podcast app. I would also appreciate if you rated us five stars on iTunes.

So my dear friends, please tune in to our next episode. A very special one, which I'm going to have with a person named Aaron D'Souza. I'm going to keep the topic a secret, because it is such a beautiful topic. You want to have fun. I did have fun recording that. So see you in the next episode. If you've not listened to our previous episodes. We have had great guests. So please, please go ahead and listen to them. And please drop me a feedback on what do you feel about it? So dear friend, see you next time in the next episode. Have a good day. Thank you so much.